Cooking to Stay Warm

For our New Year’s Eve celebration, I made a smoked salmon and goat cheese tart. It was absolutely delicious, although it was a bit salty. I think that might have been because I made the crust with salted butter instead of unsalted, but it was still delicious. I reheated some last night again, as a snack, and was happily surprised to find it was even better a few days later.

I have been cooking a lot, like I do when the winter is upon us. It was 19 degrees this morning when we left the house, and when it is cold outside, I have to stay in the kitchen, with the crock pot out and food cooking away.

After Christmas, I had to use up the Turkey and I made a delicious turkey curry. It was spicy and coconut milky; yum. For New Year’s lunch, I made a huge pork roast cooked in hard cider, with garlic and onions. It was sweet and tender and fell apart when you cut into it. Yesterday I ate leftover pork shredded in a burrito with cheese and sirracha sauce. I still have some much pork left, I really don’t know what to do with it and I don’t want it to go bad. Can you freeze cooked shredded pork?

And then last night I made chili and it turned out really well. I have to make my chili un-spicy so the children can eat it, which, truthfully, is mildly depressing, as I love HOT chili. But I can still spice up my own bowl.

I think meatloaf, shrimp curry, maybe a baked chicken are on the way; anything warm to keep us going during the long winter nights.